The Senate Has Decided Not to Nuke Itself—For Now

The Senate came to the brink of nuclear war today, stepping away at the last minute. Or, at least, that's the rhetoric that made the actual politics engaging. In reality, the chamber avoided a rule change that would prohibit some filibusters in exchange for approving five of seven nominees from Obama to administration positions. Exciting!

Until last evening, it appeared that the "nuclear option" — a change of the Senate's rules to disallow filibusters on presidential appointees — was a viable option. An unusual, late-evening private meeting of the full Senate last night didn't resolve the dispute between the two political parties. A strong majority of the chamber's Democrats supported amending the rules, should today's votes on seven nominees be obstructed. Every Republican opposed it.

But it appears that this is no longer an issue. The seven appointees being voted upon included:

Richard Cordray, to be the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Gina McCarthy, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency

Thomas Perez, to lead the Department of Labor

Fred Hochberg, to lead the U.S. Export-Import Bank

Mark Gaston Pearce, Sharon Block, and Richard Griffin, to sit on the National Labor Relations Board

Cordray was expected to be the bellwether for the day: if his nomination was filibustered, the nuclear option was triggered. This morning, Cordray got the votes he needed for his nomination to move forward, 71 to 29.

To get that deal, it appears that the Democrats sacrificed Block and Griffin. The two sat on the NLRB until January of this year, when a court determined that their recess appointments violated the Constitution. That decision thrust the two into enormously heated Congressional politics, centered on the president's right to make such appointments. With an August deadline for the NLRB appointments looming, the Democrats appear to have dropped them in favor of quicker action on other people.

Under the proposal, which the White House has not yet agreed to, President Barack Obama would pull two nominees to the National Labor Relations Board – Sharon Block and Richard Griffin – and replace them with two nominees who would receive Senate votes quickly.

Votes on the other five nominees would be allowed to go forward – including those of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Gina McCarthy as EPA administrator and Thomas Perez as Labor secretary.

This is in line with McCain's proposal yesterday, suggesting that other appointees be presented. There is some indication, though, that those appointees will be of the president's choosing and won't face much opposition.

News reports are focusing on the Germanwings pilot's possible depression, following a familiar script in the wake of mass killings. But the evidence shows violence is extremely rare among the mentally ill.